If you are a small business owner, you will experience credit card declines and it’s useful to know how to deal with declined transactions and how to understand error codes. According to Visa and Mastercard, an average of 15% of recurring payments are declined.
What are credit card decline codes?
A transaction may be declined for a variety of reasons, perhaps your system is malfunctioning or they incorrectly typed their pin. When a customer’s credit card is declined or there is an error with your device, you will receive codes that detail the reason for the decline.
Processing systems have assigned these codes along with a short description so that you, as the business owner, understand what is happening and so you can take steps to solve the problem.
Credit card decline codes are issued by either the payment processor, payment gateway or the customer’s issuing bank. Sometimes it’s obvious where the code is coming from, for example, code 51 - insufficient funds - is likely from the issuing bank, not the payment processor.
Card declined codes coming from the customer’s issuing bank are more difficult to solve and usually results in the customer reaching out to their bank.
Common reasons why a credit card is declined
In general, card declines occur when there is either a technical or financial issue, prohibiting the transaction from completing. Typically, there is a problem with the card itself or the cardholders’ bank account, that is not allowing them to process the transaction.
A card may be declined if there are insufficient funds, the card has been reported as lost or stolen, fraud is suspected, or the card is expired. If it is the fault of the terminal, it is likely unavailable to maintain a stable connection or is experiencing a technical malfunction.
Soft vs hard declines
There are two main reasons for declines and they are broken down into soft declines and hard declines.
Soft declines
A soft decline occurs when the cardholder’s issuing bank has approved the payment but the transaction has failed somewhere else.
Hard declines
A hard decline occurs when the cardholder’s issuing bank has not approved the payment for processing.
List of card decline & error codes
There are many credit card codes and you typically do not need to remember them, as a brief description explaining why the credit card transaction was declined is given. However, you can reference this list for all the card decline and error codes.
Card decline codes
- 00: No reason given
- 01: Refer to issuer
- 02: Refer to the issuer, special condition
- 04: Pick up card (no fraud)
- 05: Do not honour
- 07: Pick up the card, special condition (fraud)
- 41: Lost card, Pick up
- 43: Stolen card, Pick up
- 51: Insufficient funds
- 54: Expired card
- 65: Activity limit exceeded
- 93: Violation, cannot complete
- R0: Requested stop of recurring payment
Error codes
- 00: No reason given
- 12: Invalid transaction
- 13: Invalid amount
- 14: Invalid card number
- 15: No such issuer
- 19: Re-enter
- 28: File is temporarily unavailable
- 58: Transaction not permitted (terminal)
- 62: Invalid service code
- 63: Security violation
- 85: Issuer system unavailable
- 85: No reason to decline
- 91: Issuer or switch is unavailable
- 93: Violation, cannot complete
- 96: System error
- CV: Card type verification error
How to deal with a declined credit card transaction
If you receive a credit card decline code from the cardholder’s issuing bank, it usually means that it is a hard decline. You won’t be able to process the transaction so there’s no point trying the card again, instead, you should suggest to the customer that they should contact their bank. If the code tells you that there’s a suspicion of fraud, you may be required to hold onto the card.
Oftentimes, the transaction is declined due to human error, and in this case, you can just try the transaction again. If your payment processing terminal is malfunctioning, you can call your provider and request troubleshooting.
How to prevent credit card declines & error codes
It’s not possible to completely prevent all credit card declines and error codes, as they are often caused by the cardholder. However, there are a few things you can do as a business owner.
If you are experiencing errors related to your payment processor, you can switch processors to Penni Payments. Penni offers the best payment processing in Canada for small businesses, by providing competitive processing rates and outstanding customer service and troubleshooting.
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